Donald Trump, the president of the United States, announced on Sunday that he had instructed the Treasury to stop producing penny coins in an effort to reduce government spending.
“For far too long, the United States has been printing pennies, which figuratively cost us more than 2 cents. This is so wasteful”! Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
“I have told my US Treasury secretary to stop making brand-new pennies,” he said. Let’s rip the waste out of our great nations budget, even if it’s a penny at a time”, he added.
In a January post on X, the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, a cost-cutting initiative spearheaded by billionaire Elon Musk that has helped cut federal spending, highlighted the price of producing pennies.
There have been numerous bills introduced in Congress that have failed to pass, but the debates about the production costs of pennies are not new in the United States.
According to economics professor Robert Triest of Northeastern University, Trump’s order would likely need the support of lawmakers, but Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent may be able to stop the minting of new pennies.
If pennies were eliminated, prices would likely be rounded to the nearest five cents, according to Triest.
Pennies were being eliminated from Canada’s coinage system in 2012, citing inflation-related declines in purchasing power and a production cost of 1.6 cents per piece.
With Musk’s DOGE team tasked with investigating government spending, Trump has made cutting the federal budget a key component of his new administration.
However, the legality of some of the administration’s efforts — including slashing the US Agency for International Development’s headcount — has been challenged in court by Democrats and labor unions.
Source: Channels TV
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